The Trials and Triumphs of Rionach Sayre
by JailyForever
Summary: A collection of drabbles featuring Rionach Sayre (Nee Gaunt)
1. In the Chamber

**Event:** House Pride

 **Prompts:** (Word) Confrontation, (Animal) Snake

 **Word Count:** 698

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When Rionach Caught Gormlaith In The Chamber

Rionach followed her sister down the corridor, full of suspicion about her intentions. She had been uncharacteristically quiet for the last few days, and if there was one thing that could spell nothing good, it was a quiet Gormlaith. She was plotting something, and Rionach wanted to know what it was.

The further they travelled, the more Rionach found herself recognising the route that had been described to them growing up. She desperately hoped that she was not going there. The last thing she wanted was to have a confrontation with her older sister when she was near the dirty, great snake that was rumoured to be housed down in their ancestor's chamber.

Rionach darted behind a statue as her sister glanced over her shoulder. She waited there for a few moments until she heard the sound of her sister's footsteps again.

When she looked down the corridor, she noticed that her sister was nowhere to be seen. Rionach's fears had come true. She had gone through the trapdoor to Salazar's Chamber.

She hurried down the corridor and found the spot where the trapdoor ought to be located.

What was it that her father used to say about the Chamber? It could only be accessed by those who had his blood, so why hadn't the door revealed itself. What else was she missing?

" _Rionarch, it's what you do with the blood that counts,"_ she heard her father's voice echo in her mind.

Of course, she had to offer her blood.

Rionach took out her wand and created a thin cut across the palm of her hand, wincing slightly from the pain. She crouched down and balled her hand into a fist and allowed the blood to drip from her hand onto the entrance.

Her eyes widened as the trap door revealed itself to her. She may disapprove greatly of her ancestor, but even she couldn't deny that this was a brilliant piece of magic, using the simplest of ideas. No one who had searched for it had ever been able to find it because none of them had his blood.

She opened the trap door and began to descend the ladder.

Rionach followed the chamber round and round, sometimes feeling as though she was going around in circles. At times it felt as though it was something of a maze and she hoped she would be able to find her way back easily enough.

As she entered the main chamber, she saw her sister knelt before the statue of the _'great'_ ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. As she approached, she could hear her sister talking in Parseltongue—she was summoning the monster.

"Gormlaith, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Go away, Rionach," she snapped, standing up and turning around. "I'm doing what I should have done the second I set foot in this school."

"You can't. You mustn't," Rionach insisted as the statue's mouth widened. "Please."

"Why do you care so much?" Gormlaith question as a great snake began to slither into view.

"Because they are human."

"They are nothing," Gormlaith hissed back, turning to face the snake and issuing her commands.

"I won't allow it," Rionach answered, moving forward to stand beside her sister and give different commands.

The snake looked between the two of them, unsure of whose commands to follow. The one who was telling him to kill, or the one who was telling him to go and rest.

Rionach's lips twitched as she noticed this. It had no idea which descendent to listen to.

She carried on instructing the snake to turn around and go back to his home, telling him to leave the school and the inhabitants alone.

Eventually, after what felt like hours of talking in Parseltongue and watching the snake's indecisiveness, it finally turned around and slithered back into Salazar Slytherin's statue.

"NO!" cried Gormlaith. "What have you done?"

"I've saved this school from your tyranny, that's what," Rionach retorted. "Remember this moment if you ever think of trying to set Salazar's monster on the school again. I'll be watching you, Gormlaith."

Without waiting for her sister's response, Rionach turned on her heel and started to make her way out of the chamber.


	2. Centre of Attention

**Event:** House Pride

 **Prompts:** (Location) Dungeons, (Word) Emerald

 **Word Count:** 180

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Centre of Attention

Rionach walked down the corridor of through the dungeons towards the Potions classroom with her boyfriend, William. She had her hand interlinked with his, gaining curious looks from her fellow Slytherins who frowned heavily upon socialising with anyone outside of their own house, regardless of blood status. And top of their list of 'undesirables' were Hufflepuffs.

"Pay no attention to them, darling," William whispered, sensing her discomfort.

Rionach glanced up at her boyfriend and smiled. "I wish that I could, but it's so difficult. Everywhere we go they stare and whisper. You know I hate being the centre of attention."

"I do, but if you show that it bothers you, they'll continue to do it," William told her, his emerald green eyes shining with reassurance.

Rionach sighed. "I know, you're right, of course."

"Aren't I always?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Hmm, sometimes," she answered as they entered the classroom. "I'll see you after class."

Rionach went onto her tiptoes and kissed William gently on the cheek before making her way towards her assigned seat with the rest of Slytherins.


	3. Honesty Isn't Always The Best Policy

**Event:** House Pride

 **Prompts:** (Dialogue) "I was just being honest.", (Colour) Silver

 **Word Count:** 203

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Honesty Isn't Always The Best Policy

"I don't know what you're moaning about, Rionach," her sister called as she followed her down the stairs to the common room. "I was just being honest."

"No, what you said wasn't honest, it was cruel," Rionach retorted. "You need to learn the difference and quick."

"All I said was that your dress is hideous, and you look like an over-worked house-elf," Gormlaith laughed. "How is that cruel?"

"Because you know how long I worked on this over the summer for the Yule Ball."

"I still don't know why you did that," Gormlaith said. "If you'd asked father, he would have given you the money to buy one almost as flattering as mine."

To emphasise her point, Gormlaith spun around once in her floor length silver dress which had an elegant snake coiled around the body.

"Of course you wouldn't, Gormlaith," Rionach answered. "You don't know the value of hard work, do you? Mother and father have always handed you everything on a plate."

Rionach didn't wait for an answer from her sister and stormed out of the common room to head towards the Great Hall, hoping that she wouldn't have to deal with her sister again for the rest of the night.


End file.
